Picture: THINKSTOCK
Picture: THINKSTOCK

Related articles

THERE is much to attract viewers to the one-day series between the Proteas and England that begins in Bloemfontein on Wednesday, but there’s also something very intriguing happening in the desert.

England’s selectors have rebuilt their one-day team using all the young men their mums told them to be wary of, all caution-to-the-wind risk-takers with speciality skills playing under a captain whose motto is "play for fun and don’t fear the consequences".

Eoin Morgan is on a mission to lead England’s limited-overs team into uncharted territory after years in the doldrums that bottomed out with first-round elimination by Bangladesh at the World Cup last March.

Since then, they have won series against New Zealand and Pakistan in the challenging conditions of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Also breaking new ground is the inaugural Masters Champions League (MCL) taking place in the UAE. Most preconceptions outside the sport and television industry suggested that Twenty20 cricket between six randomly selected teams not even representative of a city or region would struggle to gain traction in a crowded market.

It is very early days, but the tournament appears to have made a decent start with the way it has been received.

The concept of a "Seniors" League is not new — they are extremely popular in golf and tennis — but cricket can look awkwardly tame and slow when played by those past their sell-by date.

But a happy administrative accident by the International Cricket Council (ICC) allowed the inclusion of players many years away from any conventional definition of "Master". When the ICC said it would sanction the tournament only if it was "retired players", they meant from "all cricket". The organisers took it to mean from "international cricket".

So, players such as Rory Kleinveldt, Robin Peterson and 28-year-old Richard Levi are enjoying an unexpected but welcome dollar windfall alongside more appropriate Masters such as 42-year-old Herschelle Gibbs (Leo Lions) and 38-year-old Ashwell Prince (Capricorn Commanders).

Everywhere you look in the MCL, there are wonderful cricket stories and some players who really don’t need the money, but can’t stay away from the competition — Brian Lara, Adam Gilchrist, Muttiah Muralitheran, Jacques Kallis — and other lesser names for whom the opportunity to make something in the region of half-a-million rand in three weeks was just too good to refuse.

And what about the Virgo Superkings restoring the most famous KES opening partnership of all time?

Step forward Neil McKenzie and Graeme Smith, followed in the middle order by 46-year-old Jonty Rhodes, who was signed as the coach, but is hitting the ball better than most of the batsmen.

The owner of the event is the Grand Midwest Hotel Group and they are serious about its longevity. They have signed a 10-year television deal and have entered into long-term contracts with sponsors and suppliers. Like many sporting franchise concepts, they expect to lose millions of dollars in the formative years before recouping and then making money. A lot of money.

Which isn’t good news for Cricket SA, which understandably fears the dilution of its own domestic game and refused to issue no-objection certificates to several players who were under contract to its affiliate franchises in SA.

It is what prompted McKenzie to retire suddenly.

As laudable as it is for Cricket SA to protect its own game from marauding men from the Middle East with lots of money, it is surely an exercise in futility.

Attempting to hold back the force of natural market forces will only push more and more players to become "free agents" without a binding contract for more than the length of a tournament.

Such a phenomenon was thought only to be likely with the top echelon of Twenty20 specialists such as Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieran Pollard, but the MCL has clearly demonstrated that even the best domestic players will be tempted to become freelance if the potential earnings are many times what they can expect with a 12-month contract at home.

So, if you happen to catch the Gemini Arabians against the Sagittarius Strikers on your next flick through the sports channels, don’t be too quick to write it off as a gimmick.

The MCL is the first Twenty20 league that is not run by the board of a Test-playing nation, but it is highly likely it won’t be the last.